Friday 19 November 2010

CHOUGHED AT NATURE IN ART

I heard yesterday that Nature in Art, Twigworth, Gloucestershire - www.nature-in-art.org.uk have extended their exhibition, Choughed by an extra week. This gives anyone who wants to see it until the 21st November. A bit last minute I know, but worth the effort.
I have to say for those who like all things Corvid it is a gem of a show, sculptures, prints and paintings are on display, I feel really honoured to be part of it. Here is a taster of what you will miss if you can't get there this weekend.
I have a collagraph, an etching,
and this enamel in the exhibition. But the show is just full of treasures, this reproduced drawing by Terence Coventry

together with the bronze inspired by the drawing. Both capture the argumentative nature of Choughs, the Cornish cousins of crows.

One of my favourite sculptors at the moment is Harriet Mead, I saw her work at the Society of Wildlife Artists exhibition at the Mall Gallery, London this summer and I am delighted to be able to take a closer look at her work in this exhibition. I am intrigued by the way artists use scrap and see images in them.

This sculpture is by Nathan Jones, there is great strength and character in this raven and I particularly like the rust and the red...something I am exploring in my own work.

There are several lovely prints on show, a number of Greg Pooles block prints. I like this lino print by Thelma Sykes, after seeing this I was inspired to be more creative with the use of orange in my own work.

I really like combining materials and this piece of ceramic sculpture works so well. Rook, by Simon Griffiths puts together, ceramics, wood and found barbed wire.
Bryan Hanlon has shown the less attractive side of the magpie, nature in tooth and claw. The way he has incorporated the metal shears together with the egg in it's beak gives this piece a narrative. This bronze is available to purchase, as are many of the other pieces in the exhibition.
If you cannot get to Nature in Art this weekend I urge you to visit it another time, there is always interesting work on show and the cafe does great cake.











Tuesday 16 November 2010

RUST

At last I have found time to finish my latest enamels.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I wanted to experiment with combining the enamel with the rusting qualities of the steel.
I have not been disappointed, the rust adds a set of warm orange tones to the pieces,
giving the work that sought after shabby chic quality I like so much.
Scraping enamel away, layering and applying transfers, firing and refiring a piece
to distress the surface, suddenly my sketch book pages are turned into glass and metal!





Tuesday 9 November 2010

COMPLETED COLLAGRAPHS

In September I made 2 collagraph plates during my residency at Nature in Art, I have finally completed them.
Locked in my shed for 4 hours this morning I have spent the time printing the collagraphs onto the screen printed colour. These 2 images are a bit of an experiment for me.
They are perhaps a little tentative and I should have had the courage of my convictions and
made stronger marks at the screen print stage, but I have learnt a great deal.
With the screen made up it takes minutes to try a different colour, so I decided to use a bonkers orange, but surprisingly it works quite well. I should have used both colours on the same image.
I am looking forward to trying out this process again and with a bit more gusto.